THE POLITICS OF CONTROL: NEW DYNAMICS OF AGRARIAN CHANGE IN BOLIVIA’S SOY COMPLEX Ben McKay 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 © Benedict McKay 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. Funding was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Award 752-2012-1258. Printed in The Netherlands. ISBN 978-90-6490-072-3 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 THE POLITICS OF CONTROL New Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Bolivia’s Soy Complex DE POLITIEK VAN CONTROLE NIEUWE DYNAMIEK VAN DE AGRARISCHE VERANDERING IN BOLIVIA'S SOJA-COMPLEX Thesis to obtain the degree of Doctor from the Erasmus University Rotterdam by command of the rector magnificus Professor dr. H.A.P. Pols and in accordance with the decision of the Doctorate Board The public defence shall be held on Friday 21 April 2017 at 16.00 hrs by Benedict McKay born in Canada 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 Doctoral Committee Doctoral Dissertation Supervisors Prof. dr. M.N. Spoor Prof. dr. S.M. Borras Jr. Other members Prof. dr. H. Veltmeyer, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada Dr. K. Jansen, Wageningen University and Research Dr. M. Arsel 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 To my mother, for her unconditional love and support and for giving me a world of opportunity 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 Contents List of Tables, Figures and Maps x Acronyms xii Acknowledgements xiv Abstract xvii Samenvatting xix 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Contemporary dynamics of agrarian change: context and problematique 3 1.3 The Bolivian case 22 1.4 Methodology, methods and study sites 27 1.4.1 Mixed methods approach 28 1.4.2 Household survey 30 1.4.3 Qualitative data collection 34 1.4.4 Cuatro Cañadas 36 1.4.2 San Julián 41 1.5 Organization of the study and its main arguments 46 Notes 48 2 THE POLITICS OF CONTROL 50 2.1 Introduction 50 2.2 Power, property and access relations 51 2.2.1 Relations of power 51 2.2.2 Relations of access 56 2.3 The state-society-capitalist nexus 60 2.4 Conclusion: towards a politics of control 65 Notes 67 vi 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 Contents vii 3 THE RISE OF THE SOY COMPLEX AND THE ‘UNITED SOYBEAN REPUBLIC’ IN LATIN AMERICA 68 3.1 Introduction 68 3.2 The rise of soybeans in Brazil and Latin America 71 3.3 The agro-industrial soy complex 76 3.3.1 Commodification and concentration upstream 76 3.3.2 Control, substitutionism and ‘flexing’ downstream 82 3.3.3 (Trans-)Latin American capital, pools de siembra and contract farming 85 3.4 Conclusion 88 Notes 89 4 LAND CONTROL: BOLIVIA’S AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND FRONTIER EXPANSION 90 4.1 Introduction 90 4.2 Historical context 90 4.2.1 Bolivia’s Mennonite colonies 93 4.2.2 The ‘eastern landlord bias’ 95 4.3 Neoliberal multiculturalism: accumulation with legitimacy? 98 4.4 Foreign capital and soybean expansion: Brazilian experiences 107 4.6 Conclusion 115 Notes 115 5 STATE CONTROL: THE POLITICS OF AGRARIAN CHANGE UNDER EVO 117 5.1 Introduction 117 5.2 The Agrarian Revolution: reclaiming state legitimacy 118 5.3 The Productive Revolution: The State-Capital Alliance 123 5.4 Mechanisms of social and economic exclusion 131 5.4.1 The ‘partida’ arrangement: a new mechanism of exclusion 133 5.5 ‘Productive exclusion’ and implications for agrarian change 137 5.5.1 Gender and generational forms of exclusion 141 5.5.2 Toxicity and health hazards 146 5.6 The simple reproduction ‘squeeze’ and surplus population 148 5.7 Functional dualism and the state-society-capital nexus 152 5.7.1 Functional dualism 152 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 viii THE POLITICS OF CONTROL: AGRARIAN CHANGE IN BOLIVIA’S SOY COMPLEX 5.7.2 State-society-capital nexus: signs of crises within and beyond the soy complex 154 5.8 Conclusion 156 Notes 158 6 VALUE-CHAIN CONTROL: RELATIONS OF DEBT AND DEPENDENCY 160 6.1 Introduction 160 6.2 Industrial value-chain agriculture and transnational capital 160 6.3 Control grabbing and the spatio-temporal fix 178 6.4 Conclusion 183 Notes 184 7 AGRARIAN EXTRACTIVISM AND THE POLITICS OF CONTROL 185 7.1 Introduction 185 7.2 Extractivism, neo-extractivism and agrarian extractivism 187 7.2.1 Extractivism 187 7.2.2 New or ‘neo’ extractivism 189 7.2.3 The new ‘extractivism’ in Bolivia 192 7.2.4 Agrarian extractivism 196 7.3 Agrarian extractivism in Bolivia 198 7.3.1 Large volumes of materials extracted destined for export with little or no processing 198 7.3.2 Value-chain concentration and sectoral disarticulation 200 7.3.3 High intensity of environmental degradation 201 7.3.4 Deterioration of labour opportunities and/or conditions 208 7.4 Agrarian extractivism and the politics of control 209 7.5 Conclusion 214 Notes 217 8 CONCLUSION 218 8.1 Introduction 218 8.2 New dynamics of control, exclusion and extraction 219 8.3 The politics of control: power, access, and the state 221 8.4 Trajectories of agrarian change and broader implications of this study 225 8.4 Epilogue 229 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 Contents ix Note 230 Appendix: Key informant interviews 231 References 239 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 List of Tables, Figures and Maps Tables 1.1 Household survey socio-economic characteristics 32 2.1 Landholding structure, Cuatro Cañadas 37 4.1 Annual deforestation by type of actors and expansion of cultivated areas 100 4.2 Land occupation by actors and five zones (documented until 2004) 111 5.1 Soybean Production Costs, Expansion Zone, summer harvest (USD/ha) 136 5.2 Soy complex employment generation, summer harvest 141 6.1 Agribusiness established in Bolivia in the value chain of oilseed economy 166 6.2 Revenue distribution of the soy complex: Smallholders, producers and agro-industry 170 6.3 Agro-industry: Market share, revenue ranking and tax contribution 176 6.4 Land area under cultivation, per crop type 182 7.1 Expanding the extractivist frontier: protected areas and petroleum contracts 192 7.2 Power, exclusion, and access mechanisms 210 Figures 1.2 Landholding structure, San Julián 42 3.1 Hectares of soybean harvest in the ‘United Soybean Republic’ 77 3.2 Production costs of seed, fertilizer and chemicals per planted acre of soybean, United States 82 5.1 Landholding structure for soybean producers, Santa Cruz, 2011 134 x 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 List of Tables, Figure and Maps xi 6.1 Soybean prices – 1996-2016 161 6.2 Market share of Bolivia’s soy (+derivatives) export market, 2012 165 6.3 Soybean seed import market 2014 (99.8% from Argentina) 172 6.4 Soybean production in Santa Cruz: Land area and yields, summer harvest 173 6.5 Origin of agro-chemicals in Bolivia, 2009-2014 175 6.6 Soybean and derivative exports, % of total value (FOB, $USD), by type 177 7.1 Total area and production, soybeans, summer harvest 199 7.2 Degree of occurrence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate phenomenon, Santa Cruz 205 Maps 1.1 Cuatro Cañadas, Nuflo de Chavez, Santa Cruz 39 1.2 Cuatro Cañadas, land change 1984-2012 40 1.3 Cuatro Cañadas 41 1.4 San Julián, Nuflo de Chavez, Santa Cruz 43 1.5 San Julián, land change 1984-2012 44 1.6 San Julián 45 4.1 Agricultural expansion zones, Santa Cruz 110 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 Acronyms ABCD ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus ACIPAC Asociación Comunitaria Integral de Productores Agrope- cuarios de Cuatro Cañadas ADN Acción Democrática Nacional ANAPO Asociación Nacional de Productores de Oleaginosas y Trigo AoA Agreement on Agriculture APPAO Asociación de Pequeños Productores del Oriente BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa CAINCO Cámara de Industria, Comercio, Servicios y Turismo de San- ta Cruz CAO Cámara Agropecuaria del Oriente CAPPO Cámara Agropecuaria de Pequeños Productores del Oriente CBOT Chicago Board of Trade CEPB Confederación de Empresarios Privados de Bolivia CGIAR Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research CIDOB Confederación de Pueblos Indígenas de Bolivia CNTCB Confederación Nacional de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia COB Central Obrera Boliviana COMIBOL Corporación Minera de Bolivia CONAMAQ Consejo Nacional de Ayllus y Markas del Qullasuyu CSUTCB Confederación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia xii 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 Acronyms xiii EMAPA Empresa de Apoyo a la Producción de Alimentos EMBRAPA Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FES Función Económica y Social FPIC Free, Prior and Informed Consent FSCIPACC Federación Sindical de Comunidades Interculturales de Productores Agropecuarios Cuatro Cañadas FSTMB Federación Sindical de Trabajadores Mineros de Bolivia, GMO Genetically Modified Organisms IARC International Agricultural Research Centers ILC International Land Coalition IMF International Monetary Fund INC Instituto Nacional de Colonización INE Instituto Nacional de Estadística INTA Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria ISI Import Substitution Industrialization JPCC Organización de Jóvenes Patriotas de Cuatro Cañadas MAS Movimiento Al Socialismo MICs Middle Income Countries MITK Movimiento Indio Tupaj Katari MNR Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario MRTKL Movimiento Revolucionario Tupak Katari de Liberación MST Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra MT Metric Ton NEP New Economic Plan SAP Structural Adjustment Programmes SENASAG Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria e Inocuidad Alimentaria TCO Tierra Comunitaria Originario TIPNIS Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Secure TRIPs Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights WDR World Development Report WTO World Trade Organization 509436-L-bw-McKay Processed on: 6-4-2017 Acknowledgements First and foremost, a huge thanks to Jun Borras.